Sodium Alginate-Based Ionic Conducting Membranes

Abstract

The present study investigates gel polymer electrolytes (GPEs) based on sodium alginate plasticized with glycerol containing either CH₃COOH or LiClO₄. The membranes showed ionic conductivity results of 3.1 × 10⁻⁴ S/cm for the samples with LiClO₄ and 8.7 × 10⁻⁵ S/cm for the samples with CH₃COOH at room temperature. The samples also showed thermal stability up to 160°C, transparency of up to 90%, surface uniformity and adhesion to glass and steel. Moreover, Dynamic Mechanical Analysis revealed two relaxations for both samples and the Ea values were between 18 and 36 kJ/mol. All the results obtained indicate that alginate-based GPEs can be used as electrolytes in electrochemical devices.

Keywords:

• Acetic acid
• gel polymer electrolyte
• lithium perchlorate
• sodium alginate

Acknowledgements

The authors are indebted to FAPESP, CAPES and CNPq for the financial support given to this research.